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Thursday, July 27, 2017

“It
is another matter that the very fact that investigators now, unlike
during Rajapakse rule, invade the person of powerful political figures
stands as a most refreshing outcome of yahapalanaya.”

The gentleman by the name of Ravi Karunanayake, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is one of theblack sheep falling off from the broad ranks of the yahapalanaya movement. He must resign; if he doesn’t, he must be removed. This is not because former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamagesays so; that was a the pot calling the kettle black. It is easy to explain why.

Yahapalanaya -not the Property of any Political Group

Firstly,
let us all realise that Yahapalanaya is not the property of any
political group. It is a social movement originally led by the Late Revd
Maduluwawe Sobita that took off during the later stages of the
Rajapaksa ten-year-old regime. Socially conscious intellectuals and
others banded together to change the direction of the country on to a
sustainable path definedby
democratic freedoms, accountability, and the supremacy of law and
order. This, they saw, as the fundamental base from which economic and
social development can be predicated and the life of people made to
flourish. The present government is only the chosen political instrument
for that transformation. If the government fails to deliver, the
movement will opt for another political instrument. Black sheep will
fall by the wayside.

From
the vantage point of my location in a country (Australia) defined by
established systems of yahapalanaya, I have mentally aligned myself with
this civil movement.Our
country profoundly needed a broad social movement emerging from the
civil community since the more progressive of the political class seemed
locked in an intrinsic inability to extricate itself from the menacing
shackles and growing darkness of the Rajapaksa regime.The Mahanayakes and the GMOA, who shout now, were conspicuous by their inactivity then-at the hour of national crisis.

Ravi’s Myth Building

To begin with, I didn’t like Minister Ravi advertising himself with third party testimonials as“the
best Minister of Finance,” somewhere. What a wise move it was, made
just in the nick of time, to have replaced this best Foreign Minister!
Simultaneously, what an unwise move to have attached the Lotteries Board
to his new portfolio of Foreign Affairs!Sans
any logic, it also smelt bad. Yet, Ravi got into the saddle. He now
talks of “commercialising,” the orientation of the Foreign Service. As
if that styling wasn’t there in the first place!I
am fed up with these kinds of slogans which our politicians have been
feeding on. Be it “Gam Udawa,” Uthuru Wasanthaya,” or “Mathata
Thithak”-these slogans have not meant anything real in the life of our
people. They are meant to deceive by myth-building. I am glad President
Sirisena has not come out with something like that.Or has he?

Our
religious leadership, educational institutions and media have never
made it their serious responsibility to help build a critical community
that would see through political myth-building. They want a worshipping
community. Why on earth should we worship any entity-God,King, monk, or
other person? The media is still full of astrology and superstition
stalks our island.

The News Story

Let’s extract the story from a news report (Colombo Telegraph 26/7/17):

“Anika Wijesuriya, this morning told the Commission to inquire into the Bond Scandal that, her super luxury apartment at the Monarch Residencies was taken on lease by Arjun Aloysius who paid for it on behalf of the then finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

She also said that Arjun Aloysius had called her and told her to “destroy” the lease agreement pertaining to the transaction.

When deciding to give it on rent, Karunanayake’s wife Mela had called the brother of Anika who had then put her in touch with Anika.

The
wife of the minister had then arrived at the apartment to inspect the
apartment with two bodyguards. Thereafter she had taken a call and told
the witness that, “a person known to both of us will be here.”

A
short while after, Arjun Aloysius had arrived at the apartment.
Thereafter, following discussions the witness said it was clear that
Arjun was going to pay the rent for the house in which the Karunanayakes
were moving into.

The
entire lease amounting close to 9 million was paid for by a company
named Walter and Rowe which Arjun and his father Geoff are both
Directors. It is a fully owned subsidiary of the holding company of Perpetual treasuries.

Thereafter the Karunanayakes had moved into the apartment.

Accordingly,
following the end of the lease period of 6 months, which commenced in
February 2016, the Karunanayakes had decided to buy the apartment. Their
family company of which Mela and the daughter are Directors had paid
165 million rupees and purchased the apartment the witness said.

The
witness also said that Arjun Aloysius had called her last week and
insisted that she destroyed the lease agreement. She said that she had
decided against it.

She also said that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake had called her father Nikhil last week.

The
witness said that she knew that the information on the transaction had
been found out by the investigators when officers of the Criminal
Investigations Department (CID) visited her in March this year.

The witness Anika, provided her name as Muthukudarachchige Vinodini in order to protect her identity during testimony.”